Bilingual processing of ASL-English code-blends: The consequences of accessing two lexical representations simultaneously.

Abstract

Bilinguals who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) and English often produce code-blends - simultaneously articulating a sign and a word while conversing with other ASL-English bilinguals. To investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying code-blend processing, we compared picture-naming times (Experiment 1) and semantic categorization times (Experiment 2) for code-blends versus ASL signs and English words produced alone. In production, code-blending did not slow lexical retrieval for ASL and actually facilitated access to low-frequency signs. However, code-blending delayed speech production because bimodal bilinguals synchronized English and ASL lexical onsets. In comprehension, code-blending speeded access to both languages. Bimodal bilinguals' ability to produce code-blends without any cost to ASL implies that the language system either has (or can develop) a mechanism for switching off competition to allow simultaneous production of close competitors. Code-blend facilitation effects during comprehension likely reflect cross-linguistic (and cross-modal) integration at the phonological and/or semantic levels. The absence of any consistent processing costs for code-blending illustrates a surprising limitation on dual-task costs and may explain why bimodal bilinguals code-blend more often than they code-switch.

Naming latencies for high- and low-frequency ASL signs and English words produced alone or in a code-blend. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean. Response time for ASL was measured from key release and from voice onset for English (see ).

Response times (RTs) for early bilinguals (A) and late bilinguals (B) for making semantic categorization decisions (edible/non-edible) to each language produced alone or in a code-blend. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean. For ASL, RTs were measured from the beginning of the video clip when the hand became visible; for English, RTs were measured from voice onset.